St. John was definitely having a bad hair day when he wrote this.  “Do not love the world or the things of the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world.”

My advice to St. John: Leave the monastery for a day and visit someone, anyone!  Monastic life, by the way, is considered one of the higher callings in the Catholic Church.  It’s right up and close to the angels.

The rest of us schmucks (Yiddish, by the way) are stuck in this world, for better or for worse.  In my religious community there is an undercurrent that missionary work in a foreign country is second only to angelic.  The rest of us (schmucks, again) are stuck in this awful and sinful world as it erodes and rots away.

I am saddened that those who are not of this world (Mork, Mindy anyway?) missed out on:

• Mozart’s Violin Concerto, number 3
• witnessing a baptism as a godparent and hearing the baby softly cry
• taking a friend out for a drink after being terminated
• attending a surprise 50th birthday party for a friend in remission from cancer
• congratulating a friend who found a job after a year’s search
• losing an evening through a mystery novel
• tucking in your son in bed singing a song that your mother sang to you
• laughing at a funeral for a long time friend who wanted you to laugh
• getting up in the morning and anxious to return to work
• a Mexican sunset, a Tucson sunset
• a Milwaukee sky in October
• an unexpected “thank you” note
• writing a handwritten letter to a friend in 2011
• meeting three foster children who’ve been rescued from a neglectful mother
• wishing luck to the first college graduate in their family
• saying “goodbye” to a good friend as he moves south
• having a cat jump on your lap after having a tumor removed

Perhaps St. John woke up the next morning and continued a more balanced account of this world of ours after an evening out with good friends.